If you come from the Bitcoin space it is indeed quite different. In Bitcoin you create a million addresses if you like. And than, these are your address. On Safenet you can do that for Safecoin, but the part we’re talking about here is bootstrapping. It’s about the moment when you start your computer and connec to Safenet. I agree it’s not that clear in the documents. I just got it on a Dev-update some weeks ago 
But again, once you’re on the network, you do create your own Safecoin address (as far as I know). That’s the thing with Project SAFE. It’s creating an alternative to Kademlia routing, in a way where you “log on” to a decentralized network using a personal file, with a cryptocurrency that doesn’t use a blockchain and also has self encrypting data and caching. And all at the same time 
I would like to ask a zillion questions more about all the details, because not all becomes clear after reading into the docs. But the devs are so busy, I almost feel guilty to poke them.
About research papers… I don’t know if there are any on this particular way of joining a network. @BenMS (Maidsafe Dev) wrote a paper on the network. Maybe he knows.