Flux-switching permanent magnet (FSPM) motors have a doubly salient structure, the magnets being housed in the stator and the stator winding comprising concentrated coils. They have attracted considerable interest due to their essentially sinusoidal phase back electromotive force (EMF) waveform. However, to date, the inherent nature of this desirable feature has not been investigated in detail. Thus, a typical three-phase FSPM motor with 12 stator teeth and ten rotor poles is considered. It is found that, since there is a significant difference in the magnetic flux paths associated with the coils of each phase, this results in harmonics in the coil back EMF waveforms being cancelled, resulting in essentially sinusoidal phase back EMF waveforms. In addition, the influence of the rotor pole-arc on the phase back EMF waveform is evaluated by finite-element analysis, and an optimal pole-arc for minimum harmonic content in the back EMF is obtained and verified experimentally.