Dr. Goodall's list of publications is extensive, including her latest book Harvest for Hope: A Guide to Mindful Eating, two overviews of her work at Gombe — In the Shadow of Man and Through a Window — as well as two autobiographies in letters, and the best-selling autobiography Reason for Hope. Her many children's books include Grub: The Bush Baby, Chimpanzees I Love: Saving Their World and Ours, and My Life with the Chimpanzees. Her book The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior is recognized as the definitive work on chimpanzees, and is the culmination of Jane Goodall's scientific career.

She has been the subject of numerous television documentaries and is featured in the 2002 large-screen IMAX film, Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees. In 2004 she was featured in two Animal Planet specials— Jane Goodall's Return to Gombe and Jane Goodall's State of the Great Ape. In 2005, she partnered with Animal Planet again to create a third special — Jane Goodall's When Animals Talk.

One of the most honored scientists on the planet, Dr. Goodall has been awarded the Medal of Tanzania (the only non-Tanzanian to receive it), the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence, the J. Paul Getty Wildlife Conservation Prize, the Ark Trust Lifetime Achievement Award, the Encyclopedia Britannica Award, the Animal Welfare Institute's Albert Schweitzer Award, and, in 2003, the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, and the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science (America's oldest science award), from the Franklin Institute.

In April 2002, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Dr. Goodall a U.N. "Messenger of Peace." Messengers help mobilize the public to become involved in work that makes the world a better place. They serve as advocates in a variety of areas: poverty eradication, human rights, peace and conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS, disarmament, community development and environmentalism. In 2004, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Prince Charles invested Dr. Goodall as a Dame of the British Empire, the female equivalent of knighthood. In 2006, Dr. Goodall received the UNESCO Gold Medal Award and the French Legion of Honor, presented by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin.

Dr. Goodall has been awarded numerous honorary doctorates from such universities as Utrecht University, Edinburgh University, University of Dar Es Salaam, Ludwig-Maximilians University, Stirling University, Providence University, Taiwan; University of Guelph, Ryerson University, Buffalo University, Tufts University, University of North Carolina, University of Philadelphia, La Salle College, Salisbury State University, Western Connecticut State University, and University of Southern California, among many others.