De-embedding and calibration are the basically same, within the context of RF circuit and microwave network. Maybe the word "de-embedding" is used by people doing simulation, while "calibration" is more commonly used when talking about actual measurement. In some case, "de-embedding" is sometimes used to refer to the simple task of moving the reference plane.
What do you want to do with de-embedding? Measurement or numerical simulation? For measurement, what is your setup?
For research, there are a number of paper in IEEE MTT and IM. International journal on microwave and millimeterwave engineering also has one or two. Search for the key words "TRL", "circle fitting", "numerical de-embedding", etc.
Simply put, de-embedding is to remove the effect of high order modes, which is difficult to do exactly. They try to "engineer" the problem by assuming a LINEAR network model and designing different schemes to obtain the model parameters. Some schemes are obvious, others (like TRL) are more clever and involve subtle assumptions.
For the purpose of doing measurement, it would be enough to know what are the assumptions of the method and make the requirements are satisfied in your setup and operation.
For theoretical work, you might want to put some time on the issue of "characteristic impedance".