Background <p>This survey aims to carefully evaluate the evolution of autophagy research in TNBC using bibliometric citation analysis to provide a comprehensive evaluation of research results in this field.</p> Methods <p>Research on autophagy in TNBC were retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (WosCC) database. Bibliometric and visual analysis of countries, institutions, authors, journals, and keywords related to the field were conducted using VOS viewer and CiteSpace data analysis software.</p> Results <p>A total of 523 papers written by 3908 authors were retrieved, including submissions from 57 countries and 993 institutions, distributed in 230 journals, including 22,756 co-cited references from 2675 journals. It was worth noting that China ranked among the top in terms of publication volume with 235 articles (accounting for 44.9%) and demonstrated the strongest cooperation with the United States. The potential mechanism of autophagy and its impact on the occurrence and development of TNBC, as well as the associated proteins and genes, have attracted great attention. In recent years, research on autophagy and drug resistance has become a key theme and emerging frontier in this field.</p> Conclusion <p>This is the first bibliometric analysis to describe the knowledge structure and emerging frontiers of autophagy research in TNBC from 2015 to 2024. This study rigorously collates and refines the mainstream research and new insights on autophagy in TNBC. These findings provide a substantial foundation for medical professionals and researchers, as well as promising directions for future research in this field.</p> Graphical Abstract <p></p>