A running head is the line of repeated text at the top of a book's pages, usually the book title on one side and the chapter title on the other. The same element set at the bottom of the page is a running foot. They are omitted entirely on chapter openings, display pages and blanks.
The Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading also records the alternative names in its editorial glossary: running heads are "also known as page heads or page headlines", and where they appear at the foot they are "known as running footers or feet".
What Goes on Which Side
The traditional pairing puts the work's title on the verso and the chapter or section title on the recto.
Chicago's own manual stated it plainly in its 1917 edition: a running head "usually giving the main title of the work on the left-hand (verso) page, and the title of the chapter, or other subdivision, on the right-hand (recto) page". CIEP's glossary describes the same arrangement as "a common convention".
Note the hedges in both. That is deliberate, and Chicago's editors are explicit about it in their published Q&A: "there are few rules per se, only some useful conventions that depend on the book", adding that the choice "is governed chiefly by the structure and nature of the book". Their advice ends: "Consider the reader, and if your choice makes more sense than the alternatives, run with it."
This matters because the sources genuinely disagree. Amazon's own paperback formatting tutorial teaches the opposite pairing, instructing authors to put the book title on odd pages and the author's name on even ones. That is a legitimate arrangement, common in commercial fiction, but it is platform documentation rather than a style authority, and it introduces the author's name, which neither Chicago nor CIEP lists for a single-author book.
The usable summary is that there are three workable schemes, and no authority forbids any of them:
- book title on verso, chapter title on recto, the traditional scholarly arrangement
- author name on verso, book title on recto, common in trade fiction
- book title on both sides, which suits a novel with numbered chapters and no chapter titles
Many contemporary novels simply carry the book title, which Chicago's own blog notes when comparing a modern novel to an eighteenth-century one.
Which Pages Omit Them
A running head is suppressed wherever it would collide with something or state the obvious:
- Chapter openings. The chapter title is already there in display type. New Hart's Rules: "The first page of a new chapter lacks a running head."
- Display pages in the front matter, such as the half title, title page and dedication.
- Blank pages.
- Full-page illustrations, tables and turned pages.
On a chapter opening the page number usually survives even though the running head does not, moving to the foot of the page as a drop folio. Turabian's guidance describes exactly that split: the footer is used for "pages in the text and back matter that have titles (such as a chapter opener)", and the header for all other pages.
Typographic Treatment
Chicago's 1917 edition gives the only concrete specification I could verify: running heads set in "roman or italic capitals two sizes (points) smaller than the type of the text". Small and unobtrusive is the enduring principle, even if the exact prescription is a century old.
Two details that still hold. No punctuation follows a running head, a rule Chicago has carried from 1917 through the current edition. And the 1917 instruction to centre the head "regardless of page number" is genuinely historical: modern practice generally sets running heads flush to the outer margin, mirroring across the spread.
One claim circulates widely and is not supported by anything I could verify: that running heads are conventionally set in small capitals. Chicago specifies full capitals, roman or italic. Small caps are a reasonable design choice, not a rule.
Running Heads in Ebooks
They do not meaningfully exist there. A running head belongs to a fixed page, and a reflowable file has none. Amazon's reflowable text guidelines do not mention running heads at all, and note that Kindle books "do not always map directly to page numbers in physical editions of the book".
Doing This in Deckle
Deckle's running header settings offer five content modes. The default, Title and Chapter, puts the book title on the verso and the chapter title on the recto, matching the traditional pairing above. The others are Both Title, Author and Title, which is the trade fiction arrangement, Title Only, and Custom, where you supply your own verso and recto text.
You can set the header's font, size, italic, small caps, and whether a rule sits beneath it. Running headers can also be turned off entirely.
Deckle applies the omission conventions automatically. Chapter opening pages carry no running head, and blank pages inserted to start a chapter on a right-hand page are left completely bare.
Note that these are print settings. They have no effect on EPUB export.
Common Mistakes
- Treating one pairing as the rule. Chicago's own editors say there are "few rules per se, only some useful conventions".
- Putting a running head on a chapter opening. It duplicates the chapter title sitting immediately below it.
- Adding a full stop after a running head. Chicago has said not to since at least 1917.
- Setting them the same size as body text. They should recede. Two points smaller is the traditional guide.
- Using the chapter title on both sides. The reader loses the book title, which is the one thing a running head can usefully anchor.
- Expecting them in an ebook. They are a fixed-page construct.
FAQ
Q: Is it running head or header? A: Running head is the publishing term. Header is the word processor's term for the same area.
Q: What is a running foot? A: The same repeated text set at the bottom of the page instead of the top. CIEP notes it is common in journals and magazines.
Q: Should the author's name appear? A: It can, and trade fiction often does it. The traditional scholarly arrangement uses the work title and chapter title instead.
Q: Do running heads appear in the front matter? A: Rarely on display pages such as the half title or dedication. A long foreword or preface may carry one.
Q: What if a chapter title is too long for the running head? A: Shorten it. A running head may carry an abbreviated form of the chapter title, since it needs to fit on one line without crowding the folio.