The University of Chicago Press first published The Chicago Manual of Style in 1906. The Chicago Manual of Style is abbreviated in writing as CMS and abbreviated verbally as Chicago. The CMS was one of the first editorial style guides published in the U.S. CMS is largely responsible for research methodology standardization, focusing specifically on citation style.

The 15^th edition of the CMS was published in 2003 and consists of 984 pages. The 15^th edition was revised to reflect the advent of the Internet in today's world of research. The 15^th edition now offers further guidance on how to cite electronic work.

The CMS is used in most historical journals and some social science publications. The CMS is the basis for the style guide for the American Anthropological Association. It is also the basis for the style sheet for the Organization of American Historians.

The Chicago Manual of Style is unique because it offers writers a variety of formats. The CMS allows either footnotes or in-text citations. Furthermore, it provides information on in-text citations by year of publication, like APA, or by page number, like MLA. CMS also offers variations in footnote style depending on the type of bibliography at the end of the paper.