Commonly refers to software that allows users to maintain a website based upon articles and news items.
A
Content management system will generally include an article manager, as will any other portal software.
Joomla is especially interesting in its article management as it has various sections of the
admin panel dedicated to this task.
It is important to note, however, that
Joomla sites are not centered around articles.
Article Managers for websites are usually database driven to allow flexibility, in which case a popular database software such as
MySQL would be used as it is commonly available on cheap webhosts.
For example, PHP based
Article Manager by Greatmail uses MySQL database software to store article contant.
On the other hand, flat-file style systems (i.e. storing all data in a file on the server within the file structure, and unfortunately accessible to users) are common and the various methods for the 'database in a .txt file' approach tried so far have been highly successful.
Of course, article managers can also be software on the web server themself that manage files and have a web based interface but are not strictly accessible to the webmaster from within the visible directory structure on the server.