The data-turn is starting to have a significant impact on library and information sciences. In an era of abundant growth of data and supporting infrastructure, proposals for the twinning of information and data science in library and information science schools aim to create expertise which would cater to the job market in need of data-oriented specialists. While data literacy creates the main line of discourse alternative approaches are being considered such as the concept of critical data literacy. A comprehensive thematic analysis of the critical data literacy discourse is undertaken to construct a comprehensive definition of critical data literacy and conceptualize its relation to the general thinking on related concepts. The articles were chosen based on the PRISMA instrument for construction of samples for systematic reviews and when submitted to its eligibility criteria 30 articles remained which were thematically analysed using the MAXQDA software. Our interpretive analysis uncovered five major themes: ontological treatment of data; critique of the epistemological status of data; literacy rationale situated in key problem accentuations; critical pedagogic articulation; and critical data literacy as ethics. We conclude that there is a growing need for terminological clarity in relation to the concepts of data and information considered in the context of the established discourse on critical data literacy.