How to cite a preprint in Chicago (author-date)
A scientific manuscript posted before peer review (ArXiv, bioRxiv, medRxiv). Chicago's author-date system. Dominant in history, sociology, and the natural sciences.
Quick answer
To cite a preprint in Chicago (author-date), include the author(s), year, title, and container or publisher details. A concrete example is below.
Example
Chen, L., and Martinez, S.. 2024. "Large Language Models Meet Clinical Reasoning." arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2406.12345
This example is rendered with the official CSL definition for Chicago (author-date). For the exact style required by your journal, paste your references into DEEPNOTIS and pick that style from the dropdown — the app covers 2,800+ variants.
What you need
For a preprint, Chicago (author-date) expects these fields at minimum:
- Author(s)
- Year
- Title
- Preprint server (arXiv, bioRxiv, SSRN…)
- DOI or server ID
- Label: [Preprint]
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to mark the reference as [Preprint]. Every major style wants this flag.
- Citing the preprint after the peer-reviewed version has been published — cite the published version instead.
- Forgetting the DOI. When a DOI exists, most styles now require it (usually as a full https://doi.org/… URL).
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Last updated: 5 May 2026